Game 55: Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Capitals region: Monumental Sports Network
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
With the free-falling Washington Capitals in town for the third and final game of the season series, there’s a bounceback opportunity for both the Montreal Canadiens and their goaltender. The Habs want to put the memory of a disastrous four minutes in their game versus the New York Rangers behind them, while Jake Allen wants a much better performance than he had versus the St. Louis Blues, allowing seven goals.
Washington’s top goaltender won’t get that shot at redemption after a poor start versus his former team. Charlie Lindgren was pulled on December 6 in the first period after allowing three goals. While he did record a shutout of the Boston Bruins in his next start, he most recently gave up four goals versus Colorado in a losing effort and finds himself backing up Darcy Kuemper for this contest.
The task in this game will be cooling off Alexander Ovechkin, who has become red-hot since the last game between the two teams. But Montreal’s offence has been clicking on multiple fronts, so as long as Allen can put in a decent effort, the Canadiens should be favoured for a win.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #22 Cole Caufield |
#14 Nick Suzuki |
#20 Juraj Slafkovský |
| #40 Joel Armia |
#35 Alex Newhook |
#89 Joshua Roy |
| #70 Tanner Pearson |
#71 Jake Evans |
#17 Josh Anderson |
| #55 Michael Pezzetta |
#74 Brandon Gignac |
#11 Brendan Gallagher |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #8 Mike Matheson |
#21 Kaiden Guhle |
| #47 Jayden Struble |
#58 David Savard |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj |
#26 Johnny Kovacevic |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #34 Jake Allen |
#30 Cayden Primeau |
Injured: Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Jordan Harris, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Chris Wideman
Scratched: Samuel Montembeault, Jesse Ylönen
Washington Capitals projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| Alexander Ovechkin |
Dylan Strome |
T.J. Oshie |
| Aliaksei Protas |
Connor McMichael |
Anthony Mantha |
| Max Pacioretty |
Michael Sgarbossa |
Sonny Milano |
| Beck Malenstyn |
Nic Dowd |
Tom Wilson |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Martin Fehervary |
John Carlson |
| Rasmus Sandin |
Nick Jensen |
| Joel Edmundson |
Trevor van Riemsdyk |
| Starter |
Backup |
| Darcy Kuemper |
Charlie Lindgren |
